Sohu.com Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ:SOHU) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Monday, February 4, 2013. Sohu.com is an Internet company that, through its subsidiaries, provides online products and services with news, information, entertainment and communication in China.

Sohu.com Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of 54 cents per share, a decline of 57.8% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from 50 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has been unchanged at 54 cents during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $2.02 per share, a decline of 56.3% from last year.

Last quarter, the company came in at net income of 67 cents per share against a mean estimate of profit of 42 cents per share, beating estimates after missing them in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, it missed forecasts by 8 cents.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit fell 44.7% to $25.9 million (63 cents a share) from $46.8 million ($1.17 a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue rose 22.6% to $285.4 million from $232.9 million.

Here’s how Sohu.com traded following its last earnings report 3 months ago and leading up to its upcoming earnings report this week:

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $292.5 million in revenue this quarter, a rise of 18.8% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $1.06 billion for the year, a rise of 24.4% from last year’s revenue of $852.1 million.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 2.26 last quarter. Having a ratio above 2:1 is usually considered a good indicator of a company’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands. The company regressed in this liquidity measure from 2.91 in the second quarter to the last quarter driven in part by an increase in liabilities. Current liabilities increased 46% to $510.6 million while assets rose 13.3% to $1.15 billion.

Key Stats:

With double-digit revenue growth the past four quarters, this earnings release is a chance to keep that positive trend going. The company has averaged year-over-year revenue growth of 30.8% over the last four quarters.

Heading into this earnings announcement, net income has dropped 50.8% on average for the last four quarters.

Analyst Ratings: There are mostly holds on the stock with six of 11 analysts surveyed giving that rating.